Washington DC day 1

On our first full day, we drove to Chancellorsville battleground near Fredricksburg VA. We had to cross the Potomac River.

George is checking out the temperature of the water!

Jeff and Emily standing near the spot that General Stonewall Jackson died.

A cannon that was used during the Civil war. The battle at Chancellorsville was the bloodiest battle in the whole Civil War.

From Chancellorsville, we headed to Mount Vernon, VA. Washington's home is there. It is a big house, with lots of property to go with it!

This is the back of the house.

A view of the Potomac River from the back porch. Must have been terrible to have to live with such a view........

I am guessing that this may have been the 'secret passage' that was talked about in the movie National Treasure 2.

Jeff and Emily with the animals at Mount Vernon.

Washington DC day 2

On Monday, we rode the Metro to DC. Our first stop was the National Archives. Housed in this building are the Declaration of Independence, Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. While there I kept thinking about the movie National Treasure.

George and Emily on the front steps of the National Archives.

The Capital building. Normally you need to have a reservation in order to have a tour of the Capital Building. We walked around to the back mainly to see what is back there, and found that this where you go to start the tour. We were lucky enough to see the line (with no one in it!!) for walk-up tickets for a tour that started in 10 minutes! Score!!

This is the ceiling of the rotunda in the Capital Building. I had just finished ready The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. The book is set in Washington DC and starts in the Capital Building. To actually get to see the painting that is described in the book was truly awesome!

One of the huge paintings in the Rotunda.

The Statue room in the Capital Building.

There was the smell of wood stoves thru out the Capital Building. Our Tour Guide said that lots of the offices are heated that way because as the building was added on to over the years, not all areas got upgraded!

We took the tunnel that connects the Capital Building to the Library of Congress. More thoughts about National Treasure 2 while in this building!

Washington DC day 3

If there is a Temple in the area, WE MUST VISIT IT!! The Washington DC Temple is impressive. It is actually in Kensington MD on the beltway north of DC. As you come around a bend in the road, all of a sudden, there it is!

We then headed for Arlington National Cemetery. What an experience. Acres and acres of headstones. There are interments daily, sometimes several in one day. We made the trek to the Tomb of the Unknowns.

I cannot express the feelings watching this Marine guard the tomb.

Then on to the National Cathedral. We went looking for the gargoyle of Darth Vader. I could not see it, but it is there among the hundreds of other gargoyles on the outside of it!! The building is massive.

A couple of pictures of the inside of the building.

Washington DC day 4

On our last day in Washington DC we started at the Smithsonian American History Museum. Very awesome place!! In that huge building you can see Archie and Edith Bunker's arm chairs, Fonzie's leather jacket, Dorothy's ruby slippers, R2D2, Julia Childs' Kitchen, the American flag that Francis Scott Key saw that inspired him to write the Star Spangled Banner, among tons of other things! You could spend a whole day there and still not see everything!

We had a reservation to take the elevator to the top of the Washington Monument, but as luck would have it, the elevator was broken. I am sure the view from the top of the Monument would be spectacular! I have read somewhere that there is an ordinance in DC that no building can be taller than the Washington Monument.

This is the view looking west from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial.

Emily standing at the feet of Lincoln!

From the Lincoln Memorial, we walked back to the American History museum and passed the White House on our way. Notice the 2 people on the roof?? There were lots of people on the grounds near the fence doing cleanup and putting lights in trees (getting ready for Christmas is my guess!!). Mixed in with the grounds keepers were men in black carrying assault rifles...